CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL

New York's Subway Damaged in America's New War

Aired September 26, 2001 - 14:16 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Down at Ground Zero Martin Savidge has been keeping track of events there. Marty joins us joins us again. Just an observation, as we are talking in the last hour, for the first time it really seemed to me you could see they had made a lot of progress in terms of clearing out a lot of the debris that was at the center site.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have made progress, Aaron. And the reason for that today is that they are focusing on using a lot of the heavy equipment, the cranes that have now been brought and put in place, the backhoes, and the front-end lifters. They are all being used at this point.

When you do that machinery as opposed to by hand, obviously, a lot more progress can be made. But there is still massive, massive piles of debris down there they have to contend with. We want to show you some new video, you had it on a little bit earlier, but we want to show viewers again.

This is video coming in from a survey that was actually done last Friday, of the areas of the New York City subway system that had been directly impacted by damage coming from the World Trade Center building's collapse. This video comes to us from the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Officials were down there taking a look. Specifically the heaviest damage is around the area of the Portland Street Station where actually a section of the tunnel collapsed.

They say it is visible down there to see a beam, a large one, from the World Trade Center, that actually pierced through the tunnel itself. They are going around trying to assess what has been done damagewise and what they can do to fix it. There's another problem they have down there. And you've heard this talk before, it is in reference to what they call the bathtub.

This is a huge retaining wall that had been built around the entire area of the World Trade Center. Much of that area of Lower Manhattan was built on landfill and as a result is not as steady as solid rock or solid ground. And there was always the fear about water coming into the area.

Water is the problem now in the subway system. They're attempting to erect three-foot thick cement plugs in the tunnels in the area of the Portland Street Station. The idea is to try to block any water that may come in through or permeate through the bathtub to prevent it from possibly flooding other parts of the subway system. That's a critical need.

Then you heard Jason talk about the new restrictions that have been placed upon commuters for the city of New York. It is especially going to impact anyone who wanted to drive into Lower Manhattan, south of 62nd Street. You simply can't do it starting tomorrow, not if you are alone. The idea is to do away with the traffic congestion. There is also, though a security concern. The city didn't go into great detail. But it is possible that they may have some alert for an individual with a vehicle, which this would try to deter -- Aaron.

BROWN: Marty, thanks. Just look behind you a second. They moved yesterday one of the big pieces of the Trade Center, I think the South Tower was it?

SAVIDGE: I believe that was the portion. Yes, it was about a 10-story chunk you saw.

BROWN: Is that right? That picture is one of the more -- perhaps among the most familiar pictures we have seen of the site over the last two weeks, the skeleton of that building, and there's talk of preserving it, isn't there?

SAVIDGE: That's right. They have commonly referred to this down at Ground Zero or the Hot Zone, as "The Ruins." The reason obviously, the depiction in video and still photography, you see those almost unearthly leftover parts of the exo-skeleton of the building jutting out of the ground at various odd angles.

They were concerned, especially with the upper stories of that -- it was unstable, it could topple, fall on the rescue crews. The decision was made to pull it down, which is what they did. You saw the dramatic scenes of the chains tugging and hauling and then eventually the upper sections toppling down to the ground.

The city would like to preserve the larger pieces for a memorial. As yet, no specific plans for a memorial. No official announcement. Obviously, the artisans in the city will be working on that as well. But they want to have it and they will take it and preserve it -- Aaron.

BROWN: I suspect they will. Marty, thanks very much. That would be a powerful piece to sit down in Lower Manhattan for whatever is going to be down in Lower Manhattan in the years ahead.

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